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Panasonic to Launch AVC-Ultra Gear at NAB

NEW YORK—Panasonic’s AVC-Ultra
chip, an electrical component described
as the size of a square dime, is a critical element
in some of the company’s key NAB
Show product announcements this year.
At the show, the company will introduce
an AVC-Ultra camcorder, rackmount recorder
and AVC-Ultra plug-ins for Avid
Media Composer 6.5.

At NAB, Panasonic will launch the AJ-PX5000G, its first camcorder with native AVC-Ultra recording.

“This year we’re getting to the point
where we’re going to start launching
several products that put AVC-Ultra to
work,” said Mike Bergeron, senior business
development manager for Panasonic Media
& Production Solutions. The chip “is
something that will go into our shouldermount
camera, as well as the small handheld
camera, a small player, or
other products moving forward.”

TIP OF THE ICEBERG
The AVC-Ultra codec encompasses
the company’s existing
AVC-HD, AVC-Intra and AVC-Proxy
formats.

Bergeron said that equipment
will be available for each point
in the AVC-Ultra workflow. As to
why someone would use Ultra’s
200 Mbps maximum data rate
when the company’s 100 Mbps
AVC-Intra data rate appears lossless, he
likened compression artifacts to icebergs.

“The ones you see on playback are just
the tip of the iceberg. There are other
changes that are invisible, but if you then
pass them off to another codec, they can show up.” Because video is ultimately
delivered through so many paths, recompressed
and re-encoded, “by going to 200
Mbps we can get to something that’s bulletproof
in all those paths.”

At the show, Panasonic will present the
AJ-PX5000G, its first camcorder with native
AVC-Ultra recording, featuring builtin
microP2 card slots and the company’s
2/3-inch, 2.2-megapixel 3-MOS imagers.
The PX5000G provides 720p and 1080p/i
recording, and is the first P2 camcorder
that will record in full-resolution, 10-bit
1080/60p (in AVC-Intra100). AVC-LongG is
standard.

“With AVC-Ultra recording, terrific image
quality and a variety of cutting edge,
selectable options, the PX5000G is Panasonic’s
best-ever shouldermount,” said
Steve Cooperman, product manager for
Panasonic System Communications Co.
of North America.

Panasonic
will also premier
its AJ-PD500, the
first P2 HD recorder
with native
AVC-Ultra
recording and
built-in microP2
card slots. The
PD500 is also
the first P2 deck
that will record in full-resolution, 10-bit 1080/60p (in AVCIntra100).
The half-rack form-factor PD500
has two built-in slots for the company’s
new microP2 cards and two standard P2
card slots, as well as an SD card slot for
proxy/metadata and AVCHD recording.

Panasonic’s AJ-PD500 is the company’s first P2 recorder with native AVC-ULTRA recording.

The new recorder provides a range of
format choices, including AVC LongG and
AVC Proxy as standard, and AVC Intra200
and AVCHD playback as options. It also has
a variety of professional I/Os to facilitate
production, post production, long-form
documentaries, live event systems, satellite
facilities, reality television, and news
trucks, and can be deployed as a redundant
playback/record device in news facilities.

Coincident with NAB, Panasonic will
begin shipping its new microP2 memory
cards in 64 GB and 32 GB models, as well
as a microP2 card adapter. The microP2
memory card’s double-layered UHS-II interface
facilitates transfer speeds of 2.0
Gbps, 1.7 times faster than standard P2
media and 12 times faster than ordinary
SD media.

Panasonic will also unveil firmware upgrades
for its AK-HC3800 studio camera
system, and AK-HRP200 remote operation
panel that supports 720/59.94 output
from the camera and enabled IP control
between operator panel and camera. The
upgrade also allows the operator panel to
set-up and control up to 19 Panasonic PTZ
cameras via IP.

The company will introduce a live up-link
firmware option for its AG-HPX600
P2 HD camcorder in collaboration with
LiveU to deliver an integrated solution. In
addition to passing audio and video via
SDI from the camera to LiveU’s bonded-cellular
liveshot system, the camera can
control the stop and start of the LiveU
unit, and operational status is visible in the
HPX600’s viewfinder.

New bonded-cellular liveshot partners
are also integrating with Panasonic
HPX600 camera, including Streambox,
TVU Networks and AVIWEST.